1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rapid cycle pressure swing adsorption oxygen concentration method, and more particularly to an oxygen concentration method that uses a cam-actuated mechanical valve to control flow of gases, timing of pressurization and pressure conditions to improve efficiency of producing concentrated oxygen from air.
2. Description of Related Art
Oxygen concentrators have been considered a particularly cost effective and preferred apparatus to supply concentrated oxygen for supplemental oxygen therapy and for patients with respiratory disease at homes or hospitals. Over the last few years, the oxygen concentrators have been extended to provide the concentrated oxygen for beauty treatment, air conditioning machines and welding industries.
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a process for separating gases from gas mixture, such as air. The pressure swing adsorption process is now well known as a very effective way to produce concentrated oxygen from the air. In a pressure swing adsorption process, the ambient air is pumped into a sieve tank that is typically fabricated of an airtight container filled with a molecular sieve material, such as Zeolite. For the separation of individual gases in the air, the pressure conditions in the sieve tank should be controlled precisely. However, in a conventional way to control the pressure conditions in the sieve tank, electromagnetic valves or other types of valves, such as rotatory valves have been widely used for fluid control of the air to switch the pressure conditions in the sieve tank.
However, when a pressure swing adsorption oxygen concentrator uses the electromagnetic valves to switch and control the airflow in the sieve tank, the flow rate and direction of the pumped air will be changed which causes noise as fluid is processed. Besides, the timing of pressurization cannot be controlled precisely that lowers efficiency of producing concentrated oxygen. For a high-end oxygen concentrator, high quality and performance are generally the focus and requirement of users. The conventional method that uses the electromagnetic valves to switch the pressure conditions for the pressure swing adsorption oxygen concentration will cause undesirable noise and low performance in the oxygen concentrator.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a rapid cycle pressure swing adsorption oxygen concentration method that uses cam-actuated valves to control flow of fluid to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.